Mac Spectrum

Hack Allows PowerPC Macs to Access Flash 11 Content

- 2012.01.03 - Tip Jar

Follow Simon Royal on Twitter.

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEMLEM

Tweet this! Digg it! Reddit Del.icio.us Short link: http://bit.ly/tX1XEQ

If you are a fan of Low End Mac, chances are you are using at least one PowerPC Mac, so you are in the same boat as other PPC Mac users with software support dropping very fast - even though your hardware is still very capable. If you are reading this article, then I bet the title grabbed you.

I recently wrote TenFourFox and Flash: The Future of PowerPC Macs on the Web. TenFourFox, an unofficial port of Firefox, is the last remaining browser being maintained for PPC Mac, but with Adobe's recent decision to stop any further development of Flash for PowerPC, we are wondering where this will leave us. Already there are sites that require the latest version, Flash 11, and our older Macs choke, as they are stuck with Flash 10.

All is not lost. There is a hack floating around the Net that tricks your Flash 10 plugin into reporting it is Flash 11. There is a YouTube video explaining how to implement it (yes, you do need Flash 11 to view it...), and it is very easy. I must point out that this is not my video or download, I am just sharing it with you.

You can download the files here.

To install it, download the file to your desktop and unzip it. Navigate to your main/Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder (not the user Library) and replace the current Flash Player plugin with the one you just downloaded. Just restart your browser, and everything should work.

One example of this working is Facebook. YouTube videos embedded in Facebook will not play with Flash 10, even though they will work on the YouTube site. It says "you need to upgrade" - which, of course, we can't. However, YouTube embedded videos work fine with the Flash hack.

How long this hack will work and on what sites is anyone's guess. Adobe must have some new codecs or code in Flash 11 that separates it from Flash 10, and at some point there will be Flash content that does not work with this hack, with who knows what consequences.

I have been using this hack for a few weeks with TenFourFox - you have to enable plugins as these are disabled by default - and it works great. Other browsers should work fine too.

For now this one nail removed from the PowerPC coffin.

I would love to hear reports of which sites didn't work before this hack but do with it. A friend of mine reported that he can now use Adobe Kuler on his eMac running OS X 10.4 Tiger, which he couldn't before.*

I have been emailing and chatting with many Mac fans, hoping someone can help back-port Flash 11 (and hopefully future versions) to the PowerPC platform so we can keep this platform alive. If you would like to help, please contact me. LEM

* Publisher's note: I just visited Adobe Kuler using TenFourFox on my MDD Power Mac G4 running OS X 10.4 Tiger, and it works just fine. Your results may vary depending on your hardware, OS version, and Flash version. dk

Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Recent articles by Simon Royal

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
  Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Share

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Mac Poker Online Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link